Sydney Nauman
•9/15/2026
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—Power has been restored to more than 2,000 homes in Cape Coral after a large crane struck power lines Tuesday morning.
The incident happened in the area of Southwest 2nd Avenue and Southwest 40th Street, off Pelican Boulevard past the soccer fields. The crane was traveling on a barge in the canal when it got tangled in the lines around 8 a.m.
Greg Tresenriter lives along the canal and heard the collision from inside his home.
"I was getting my coffee, getting ready to head out, and I heard a big boom, and it was like an explosion," Tresenriter said. "Then it happened again, and it was even louder…I ran out the front door, and the crane was leaning against the wires and it was like fireworks. I saw sparks and everything."
The crash knocked out power to roughly 2,000 Lee County Electric Cooperative customers. LCEC crews worked for nearly five hours, restoring power to most customers by 8:45 a.m.
Just 173 customers remained without electricity, including Tresenriter, whose power was restored just before 1 p.m. Neighbors say they weren't shocked when they realized what happened. One man who has lived along the canal for nearly a decade says this has happened at least three other times.
Tresenriter says the canal is a common route for barges and other boats.
"That's the only way to get to docks and the pylons down the river on the barge," Tresenriter said.
Shannon Williamson with LCEC says while these crashes are common, they aren't usually caused by barges.
"We typically have sailboats hit the power lines almost every year but barges are very uncommon," Williamson said.
With lines crashing into the water and onto nearby properties, neighbors say boaters need to be more careful in the canals.
"People have got to pay more attention, especially something that's as dangerous as that," Tresenriter said. "He could have got hurt."
LCEC is asking all boaters and sailors to maintain at least a 10-foot clearance from all overhead power lines, which starts with knowing how tall the machinery being operated is. Williamson says extra measures, like adding signage, may require additional approvals and steps.
"It might be like that, where we have to navigate and get permits but I think after this it might be something that we're gonna look into," Williamson said.
LCEC has signs addressing similar power line issues along the South Spreader Waterway on the other side of Cape Coral but has not yet considered putting similar signs in this canal.
